The blood of the Heavenly Warrior flowed like a river. As it did so, it grew weaker and unable to fight back against Ryu's attacks. The process made the battle even more lopsided, and most would have forgotten that this was supposed to be one of the strongest Tribulations in all of existence... if not for the fact that there were still three other large-scale battles ongoing.
Old Wan, Black Worm, and Chaotic Space were all still fighting and had only destroyed about half of their legions until now.
Unfortunately for them, they weren't able to destroy the formation imdiately like Ryu had. As such, they had no choice but to take a slower approach to deal with these large swaths of enemies.
But that was precisely what made things so shocking.
Could Ryu really be so much stronger than three existences on the verge of entering the Dao God Realm?
Of course, what they didn't know was that Old Wan was only breaking into Sovereignty. But it could be said that the man was quite obsessed with putting off a facade, a far cry from Ryu who seed to be displaying all of his trump cards one after another and allowing Old Wan to build a comprehensive understanding of his abilities.
Suddenly, Ryu ca to a stop. The Aspirant thrust a saber at his chest, only for it to barely pierce his skin before coming out to a stop.
Ryu, who was still lost in thought, subconsciously felt his muscles tense in defense and the cracking saber finally couldn't seem to hold up anymore, causing it to shatter to pieces.
It was another shocking sight, but it seed like Ryu wasn't paying attention at all as he raised a hand like he was pulling on the strings of a puppet.
CHI.
The Aspirant froze, the blood in its body freezing taut.
Ryu shifted his fingers and the Aspirant moved, beginning to do all sorts of ridiculous things.
It reached down to touch its toes. Then it turned around and shook its hips to the skies. It only made things ten tis worse that the Aspirant was butt-naked.
At this point, this was sothing worse than humiliation. Most couldn't even bear to watch anymore, so even believing that Ryu was just doing this to squeeze as much Fate as he could from this event.
If he was alone, people might think that the Tribulation was just a joke... but how could they when there were three others there for comparison's sake?
'It worked! Ryu nodded to himself.
Right now, he was using Bloodmancy.
The branch of Bloodmancy Ryu originally picked was all about himself and control over his Bloodlines. It was what had opened the path of control he had now, and also what allowed his Bloodlines to bloom into their more powerful state.
was
In fact, without Bloodmancy, Ryu wouldn't have been able to reforge his Bone Structures the way he had. The fact he had a Living Spiritual Foundation only played a part in that. A large part, but still only just a part.
However, Bloodmancy had many paths that were much more like Necromancy. And this was one that Ryu had casually chosen.
The bundle of Fate his master had left for him in order to guide him in the principles of Bloodmancy was already entirely analyzed by Ryu. Even if he had never practiced this path before, he was still able to grasp it.
Now, this Aspirant was entirely under his control.
"Will it work?" Ryu mumbled to himself.
With his free hand, he pointed out a finger to the side and a Heavenly Warrior that Black Worm was swinging a blackened glaive at vanished.
Black Worm swung at nothing but air and almost stumbled forward. Though he caught himself in ti, he found himself assaulted from three sides instantly.
He was forced to use up a large amount of his qi to escape the situation unhard. He looked over toward Ryu with a blazing fury in his eyes, but Ryu still hadn't looked over to him a single ti.
Wrapped in a bundle of solid space, the Heavenly Warrior was completely restrained. It was far weaker than the Aspirant, so what chance did it stand?
Ryu extended his finger and poked at the Heavenly Warrior. Almost instantly, all of its armor shattered and Ryu's finger went right through its body. He didn't even seem to put in much effort at all, and yet it was as though his claw was ford from the sharpest blade.
Pulling his finger back, Ryu looked at the blood and then flicked it away from himself.
The Heavenly Warrior's body convulsed, struggling for a mont before Ryu adjusted sothing and it found itself being completely under his control.
Still, Ryu shook his head in disappointnt. 'It seems that there's no easy linkage between them all. Each one is slightly different. If it took this much effort for a normal Heavenly Warrior, this won't be enough to help through the next phases... That
said...'
Ryu's flexed fingers clenched. The Heavenly Warrior shattered into pieces, leaving behind nothing but a concentrated ball of flesh and blood.
Ryu observed it for a mont before his eyes narrowed.
"They don't have Corporeal Souls...'
He had been looking for what felt off to him all this ti, but he didn't expect that it
would actually be this.
Were these Heavenly Warriors not living existences?
'Wait, no...'
Ryu's heart skipped a beat as his head snapped back toward the Aspirant.
Technically speaking, the only thing you needed to be Reincarnation were the Three Incorporeal Souls. In fact, you only needed one of them, whether it was your Ego or Dao Heart, both of them were things that only ford after you Reincarnated.
In much the sa way, one's Corporeal Souls were literally only grown when they gained a body of flesh and blood.
Everything else was only extra, but they were also part of what made a person a person. That was why despite so many reincarnations, Ryu only truly acknowledged this life as himself, because this was the only life he had this unique combination of Corporeal and Incorporeal Souls...
In the others, there was the shell of what made Ryu, but there was none of the inner substance.
But these Heavenly Warriors seed to lack any substance at all, whether good or
bad.
'No substance... oh...'
Ryu's eyes glazed over, a subtle hint of sothing brewing in his mind. Deep within
him, there was a stirring.
And then he sensed it.
In the distance, Old Wan's head turned over and his body suddenly beca nothing more than a streaking shadow.
In a silent bid for Ryu's life, he struck at the very mont. Ryu seed to have lost his
mind, a crystalline dagger coming out from the shadows he was wreathed in.
He didn't seem to cut through space at all, and yet he moved with no less speed.
The dagger ripped into Ryu's back, severing his spine and piercing right through his
heart.
Ryu hacked up a mouthful of blood, his body shuddering.
ཀཱཀྐ[༢༡ ༣
Old Wan knew that he had succeeded. He didn't know when the opportunity would co, but he knew that he would take advantage when it did so.
And when he moved, he didn't hesitate to go all out.
His dagger exploded with power, ripping a hole all the way out of Ryu's chest and
sending rains of blood in all directions. But at the sa ti, the hidden danger Ryu knew was within himself activated at the sa ti.
Tendrils of darkness peeled across his body like spiderwebs of lightning, corroding his inner organs and atrophying them.
In an instant, Ryu seed to have gone from a young male in the pri of his youth to
a young man who was on his last legs.
He aged, his white hair dulling into greys and unhealthy, straw-like whites.
It seed that the battle was already over in an instant, and the tense concentration in Old Wan's heart seed to finally relax sowhat. As for the Tribulation, he didn't even seem to mind it very much at all, almost as though so long as Ryu was gone, everything else would be much easier.
Ryu didn't move, standing there with the dull, glass look of death in his eyes.
A silence took over... other than the rumbling clouds high above, most couldn't believe
what they were seeing. It didn't seem to make sense that a young man who just had the world in the palm of his hands would fall like this.
But... this was the way of the cultivation world. One mistake, in a single mont of carelessness, was enough to draw the dividing line between winners and losers.
And indeed it was.
It just wasn't certain who the winner and loser was just yet.
"Indeed. A scurrying little rat like you really wouldn't miss an opportunity like this one. Unfortunately for you, I've reached a level you can't possibly fathom."
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